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East Bourne Beaches and coastal beauty spot evacuated as noxious ‘chemical haze’ drifts onshore
Residents along a five-mile-stretch of Sussex coast have been warned to stay inside and close their windows after a noxious “chemical haze” swept over a beauty spot and left up to 50 people ill.
Visitors to Birling Gap, next to Beachy Head, were evacuated and treated by emergency services after reporting stinging eyes, sore throats and vomiting from around 5pm.
Sussex Police said the mystery haze then appeared to spread east towards Eastbourne and Bexhill and urged people to stay away from beaches and remain inside.A police statement said the mystery cloud was “causing discomfort for people along the coast from Eastbourne to Birling Gap”.
The effects felt by those caught in the cloud had “prompted emergency services to warn people to stay away from the beaches and to keep doors and windows closed if living near the coast”.Sussex Police said: “People living along the coast in the area have been advised to keep doors and windows shut and to move away from the Birling Gap area in particular.”
The cause of the haze was not immediately clear.
The RNLI said that “possibly some kind of gaseous fumes” had drifted over the scene and a significant number of people on cliff tops had been struck down with symptoms including irritation, sore eyes and vomiting. Fears from the coastguard that people could be trapped on the beach saw the RNLI launch all-weather lifeboats from Eastbourne and Newhaven to the Birling Gap area.
There was a doctor on board the Eastbourne lifeboat.
A spokesman said: “We have been checking along the shoreline to try and ensure that everyone is safe.”
He said a “plume” had drifted across the area bringing “some sort of substance” with it
which seemed to affect a number of people. source-telegraph
photo-guardian